ducks housed on sand

[thegildednest]

Are there any concerns I should have about housing ducks on sand instead of wood shavings?

[gospelplayer16]

I used to keep my runs covered in sand, and never had any problem with it. I actually think sand is better for ducks feet than gravel. However u should keep wood shavings in their night time enclosure during the winter for added warmth. Someone else may have another opinion though.

[Evy]

Are there any concerns I should have about housing ducks on sand instead of wood shavings?

Indoors ? My runs outside are sand & have to be raked & partically replaced a couple times a year or it gets crusty & smelly. I use fine hay or shavings inside.

[thegildednest]

I've built a new house with attached run which has a pool in it. What's happening is when they walk from the house (with wood shavings) on the sand to the pool they drag wood shavings along with them which goes into the pool. I wish I had thought of that scenario before I built it the way I did, but I didn't :( .

Anyway, the 3-4 months of winter aren't an issue since I close the big pool off from them during that time it's the rest of the year that I'm wondering about. Yes, I do dig up the sand in the run every couple of weeks or so and replace it with fresh sand but the main question is "what about putting sand in the house" instead of wood shavings? I was mainly thinking of fleas etc but now I'm thinking that it's probably not much of a problem since they are on sand in the run all the time anyway. I plan to pooper scoop the mess in the house every few days so they wouldn't be sleeping on it too much.

Anybody else ever HOUSED ducks on sand before?

[thegildednest]

I added the sand to the duck house today and tonight is the first night they'll sleep on it. Will post back in a while to give a progress report to those who are interested...

[thegildednest]

So far so good. They have been sleeping on the pond more and more but maybe that's because the weather is getting warmer every day. Anyway, I've decided for the non-winter months to house them on sand and for winter I will house them on wood shavings.